How we see Afghan women

Land of the Unconquerable:
The lives of contemporary
Afghan women
edited by Jennifer Heath
& Ashraf Zahedi
University of California Press, 2011

Among the more common forms of violence inflicted on Afghan women, one is the discourse that focuses on gender exclusively with reference to the rise and fall of the Taliban regime, in 'before and after' scenarios. While there is no denying the brutal nature of the Taliban's edicts on women, this somewhat easy equation speaks in part to the lack of historical insight many writers bring to this part of the world, and in part to Western agendas behind the war to 'liberate' Afghan women.

Land of the Unconquerable aims at a broader historical context, including by addressing the violence and displacement of the brutal civil war (1992-96) that preceded the Taliban. It begins by pointing out that 'many women report that this four year period – virtually ignored by the Western media – rivalled, often outdid, the subsequent Taliban era for barbarism and oppression, with rapes, kidnappings and forced marriages.' The book seeks to question the way we see the lives of Afghan women, and draws from a range of voices – including journalists, aid workers, parliamentarians, anthropologists, midwives and educators – to achieve this.